This invention is a method of interconnecting a set of printed circuit daughterboards mounted in a housing with their edges plugged into electrical connectors mounted on a motherboard forming the cage backplane.
Both the density and number of contacts in backplane electrical connectors are limited by mechanical considerations and space problems while the frequency of electrical signals transmitted is limited by the significant changes in form which exist at the contact position. They form a veritable bottleneck in the flow of data between printed circuit boards but it should be possible to overcome this problem using optical connectors.
Optical connectors are capable of transmitting very high frequency signals--several gigahertz--and are currently only limited by the performance of electro-optical interfaces. They also make it possible to split the power in very high frequency signals far more easily than with electrical connectors and coaxial or three-layer lines.